LINES TO BETSY BELL. [We copy the following sprightly and pleasing Lines to Betsy Bell, from the Staunton Spectator. We suppose our readers are aware that Betsy Bell is the name of a high hill, or small mountain, so called, overlooking Staunton. Towering above the surrounding hills," says the Spectator, "it is visible from every part of the county, and serves as a great landmark to indicate the locality of the town. The Lunatic Asylum is located at its base, and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and the Blind, is situated on a neighboring eminence. We may add, that " Betsy Bell," and "Mary Gray," (another small mountain not far off,) "were so called by the first settlers of the county, after two similar hills in the North of Ireland." (But this statement, we see, is questioned in a subsequent communication to the Editors, which we shall also append to this article in the form of a note.) "The story sometimes related in the form of a tradition, that two young girls of those names were murdered by the Indians in this neighborhood, has no foundation of truth."] Now Betsy Bell, why should you swell With such a towering air? Why thus look down on all the town, 'Tis true, you're tall, but that's not all, You're ugly, big, and bold; You're bald and bare, and some e'en dare To whisper you are old. Grizzly old Maid, you're much decayed, And one may guess your style of dress Your taste prefers a cap and spurs But, dear Miss Bell, the Muse shall tell Your virgin boast and pride, How minds that roam find health and home, Reason beguiled, like a lost child, By Fancy's false pretences, The deaf and blind have found you kind, All, all, speak well of you, Miss Bell; Washing your face with earliest grace, Now, Betsy, sure you'll frown no more, At least you'll smile at morn a while, And Day grown old, with tints of gold, And silvery Night may crown your height With ornaments of grace." 0. Messrs. Editors:-In speaking of those sprightly lines by your correspondent "O.," which graced a late number of your paper, you remarked that "Betsy Bell and Mary Gray were so called by the first settlers of the County after two similar hills in the north of Ireland." Now the writer, although "of the manor born," was not aware of the fact stated, but, on the contrary, had long supposed that the names given to those Staunton hills, were in honor of the heroines of an old Scotch Irish Song. The writer well remembers that, some fifty years ago, the song of Bessy Bell and Mary Gray was known and sung (and no doubt had been at a much earlier period) by many of the "braw lads and bonny lasses" of the North of Ireland, whose fathers had lived in the glens, formed by the heather hills of Scotland, some of whose "kith and kin" had crossed the broad Atlantic and settled in the valley-who suug the same songs, and were alike in habits, language and religion. Besides, some forty years ago, Bessy Bell was the common pronunciation given to the name of the centre mountain of the County, by the descendants of those Scotch Irish settlers, who gave names to our rivers and mountains and hills. One verse of the old song ran thus, "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, They were twa bonny lasses; They built a house on yon *brent fbrae, Whilst upon the subject of Scotch Irish Song, I am reminded of an anecdote related by the late Capt. Wm. Robinson, of Middle River, of distinguished Revolutionary memory, and by its recital would introduce you, Messrs. Editors, to a group of the early settlers. About ninety years ago, when the Captain was but a lad, the alarmed neighbors collected at his Father's house, a strong wooden structure, for mutual defence and protection from an hourly expected incursion of their deadly foethe Indians. Robert Kenney, (the great uncle of the present gentleman of that name who resides near the place,) sat in the chimney corner whistling the lively air of "Paddy Lockhart," when Mrs. Grizzle Craig, a pious old lady present, rebuked him for his ill-timed mirth, with "Fie, fie, Rabin, Rabin! you had better be saying your prayers than whistling that sinfu' tune at sic a time as this." "Indeed Grizzle," replied Rabin, "I'll §fash my head wi' nae such thing, until I know more about it." Allow me to add another truthful scrap from the old Captain's history. It seems that about the time of his birth, the Middle River was greatly swollen-having overflown its banks, and covered all the low grounds. The inmates of his father's cabin (which stood upon the river bank) were threatened with destruction, and to rescue the mother and her babe, a large hog trough was rowed to the door, into which they were hurried and paddled to the hill. The merry Captain, when speaking in after life, of some of his "hair breadth 'scapes, of moving accidents by flood and field," forgot not to mention his sail in the pleasure boat-or, as he termed it, "the first of his navigation." * Smooth. t Hillside. + Thatched. § Trouble. G. STRACHEY'S VIRGINIA BRITANNIA. The Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia; expressing the Cosmographie and Comodoties of the Country, together with the Manners and Customs of the People. Gathered and collected as well by those who went first thither as collected by William Strachey, Gent., the first Secretary of the Colony. Now first edited from the original manuscript in the British Museum, by R. H. Major, Esq., of the British Museum. London: printed for the Hakluyt Society. 1849. 8vo. pp. 203. [We regret that we have not yet seen a copy of this work; though we hope to obtain one hereafter, when we shall of course have something to say about it ourselves. In the mean time, we borrow the following brief notice of it from a much longer article on the subject in a recent number of the Princeton Magazine, in which we think we recognise the hand of a gentleman who is justly distinguished for his critical and antiquarian taste.] We have the unusual pleasure of naming in the margin to our antiquarian readers a publication which has all the charm of novelty with all the venerable authority of age. It is a work from the pen of William Strachey, the first secretary of the Colony; now first brought to light, by the enterprising zeal of the Hakluyt Society. The Hakluyt Society was established for the purpose of printing rare or unpublished Voyages and Travels, and the volumes produced are distributed among the members alone. As the work named below cannot therefore be found in the market, we are the more prompt in pointing out its contents. It may be proper to premise that the president of the society is Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, and that among its active members are Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Malcolm, Dr. Whewell, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Sir Henry Ellis, Mr. Milman, and R. Monckton Milnes, Esquire. The volumes already published include Sir Richard Hawkins's Voyage to the South Sea in 1593; Sir Walter Ralegh's Discoverie of the Empire of Guiana; Sir Francis Drake's Voyage, in 1595, and a selection from inedited manuscripts in the British Museum, concerning the Northwest Passage. Among the publications contemplated may be named, Frescobaldi's travels in Egypt and Syria, in 1384; Bethencourt's Discovery of the Canary Isles, 140225; and Virginia in the years 1584-1600, from narratives of Arthur Barlowe, Ralf Lane and Thomas Harriot. It is evident on the bare reading of these titles that historians and antiquaries have reason to expect much satisfaction in regard to points hitherto left in darkness. The value of the book before us is derived from the particular eventful period to which it relates, the station of the author, and the fact that it has lain unpublished more than two centuries. The author was a man of sober and observing mind, and of great learning after the model of King James. It is evident that he intended to make a great work, of which these two books are only the beginnings. The narrative of Strachey must have been written before 1616, as appears from the title given to Sir Francis Bacon, in the dedication. Two manuscripts exist, one in the British Museum, and one in the Ashmolean Manuscripts at Oxford. The present edition is brought out by R. H. Major, Esq.. F. R. G. S., Honorary Secretary of the Society. It is embellished with etchings by Mrs. Major; comprising fac similes of signatures, Captain Smith's map, the same which appears in Dr. Rice's neglected but patriotic edition, and several spirited illustrations from de Bry. It has also a copious glossary of Indian words, which is invaluable to the comparative philologist. The first book contains the geography and topical description; with a full and graphic account of Powhatan and his realm. Some of the accounts of Pocahontas in her girlhood are peculiarly amusing and unexpected, though innocent; nor dare we copy them. Then follows a minute picture of manners and customs, certainly equal to any thing we have ever read on this head. As compared with Smith, we observe Strachey's superior ability as a writer; though pedantic in ancient citations, he is clear, and for his time neat in language: and his account bears the marks of a reserve as to the marvellous, which is wanting in that of the great captain. The only specimen of an Indian lyric is found on the 79th page; it is a satire on the white men, ridiculing their ideas of pain, and mocking at their swords and fire-locks. The second book occupies itself with the early discovery, and is overladen with a good amount of unseasonable |